THRIVE - Transformative Hub for Regenerative Innovation and Viable Ecosystems
Local farming is losing ground and communities are becoming disconnected from their food. THRIVE offers a farmer-led, data-driven solution to rebuild transparency, resilience, and boost regenerative practices. A model designed to empower farmers, engage citizens, and strengthen local ecosystems.
What is THRIVE?
THRIVE is a farmer-centric project that develops a transparent, regenerative, and resilient model for local food systems. THRIVE connects nine farms, their farmers, and their consumers to enhance market access and visibility, and enable full traceability from soil to plate.
By raising awareness of the work farmers do for both people and the environment, THRIVE aims to restore trust between the land, its stewards, and the communities they feed. Its narrative is simple: “THRIVE brings people closer to the food we grow, share, and eat.”
The model tested in Ibiza is designed to be scalable and replicable, offering a pathway for other regions, particularly those dependent on imports or shaped by tourism, to revitalise local farming, strengthen food resilience, and build collaborative, transparent agrifood ecosystems.
We believe that:
- Food should be transparent
- Farming should be viable
- Communities should thrive
Image: Jessica at Can Purtell
The Role of Partner Farms
Working with 9 farms across the island, Thrive combines real impact data with human stories to improve traceability from soil to plate, and reconnect communities with the food they eat. By blending hard data with human stories, we are creating a blueprint for a new local food system grounded in evidence. Rather than working in isolation, these farms operate as a unified, cooperative ecosystem. THRIVE empowers these partners by providing:
- Shared Resources & Infrastructure: Access to collective agricultural machinery, processing facilities, and distribution networks, drastically reducing overhead costs for individual smallholders.
- Value-Added Support: Assisting traditional farmers in transitioning from selling raw, low-margin commodities to creating high-value, artisanal products that command fairer market prices.
- Knowledge Exchange: Serving as a peer-to-peer network where traditional wisdom meets modern agronomy, allowing farmers to seamlessly adopt regenerative methodologies.
Image: Youri, farmer at Can Cristofol
On-the-Ground Impact: What We Are Measuring
THRIVE translates high-level sustainability goals into measurable, daily actions. We are currently measuring the regional impact of our partner farms across three core pillars, creating an evidence-based blueprint designed to be replicable across other European regions facing similar supply chain challenges:
- Nutritional Impact: The foundation of nutritious food starts below the ground. THRIVE directly links soil health to the nutritional density of farm produce, proving how life below ground shapes the quality of what is on our plates.
- Social Impact: Modern systems have severed the connection between communities, their food, and the people who grow it. THRIVE puts farmers first, using human storytelling to rebuild community engagement and trust.
- Economic Impact: Currently, Ibiza relies on importing a staggering 96% of its food. By diversifying local crop production and securing regional food sovereignty, this pilot establishes a steady, year-round harvest of fresh, organic produce that keeps economic value within the local community.
Deep Dive: Listening to the Soil (Methodology & Findings)
We talk a lot about soil in regenerative farming, but what role does it actually play? Soil is not dirt; it is a living ecosystem. Healthy soil is the absolute foundation for agricultural productivity, water retention, carbon storage, and biodiversity.
Last winter, the THRIVE project collected extensive soil samples across our 9 partner farms to measure real soil health indicators, blending generational farming knowledge with advanced modern tools.
Image: Elisabeth at Can Lim Farm
Project Partners & Collaborators
- Co-funded by: EIT Food and the European Union
- Consortium Members:
- Asociación de Agricultura Regenerativa Ibérica
- EARA (European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture)
- Fairtrasa
- ELEKS Software
- Juntos Farm
- 9 working farms in Ibiza: Juntos Farm, Can Benet, Can Puvil, Can Cristofol, Els Corondà, Bosqal, Can Truy, Can Purtell, Blacknose and in close collaboration with Associació de Productores d'Agricultura Ecològica d'Eivissa i Formentera (APAEEF)
- Photography: Toni Ramon
Image: Marina, owner of Can Puvil, with her father
Project lead
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